


The Legend of Echo Squadron

by Echo1138



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Legendary Guardians, May completely change story and finish eventually, Nessus, Vex - Freeform, not finished
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-11 13:08:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19928578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Echo1138/pseuds/Echo1138
Summary: A researcher is looking into how to stop the vex by digging up data on Echo-11 and his legendary fireteam of 5 is given an assignment by the vanguard.  Go to Nessus, establish a transmat zone, and call in city reinforcements to clear the vex out.





	The Legend of Echo Squadron

**Author's Note:**

> This is told in Lore cards and lore tabs of non-existent items in Destiny. Each entry is either a collectable the player would be able to pick up on Nessus which would unlock a lore card in the book "The Legend of Echo Squadron" or an item the player would be able to obtain in game. I tried my hardest to make this seems like a real story in the universe of Destiny that could exist. 
> 
> Note: This story is only about 1/3 of the way done and this iteration will never be finished.

JOURNAL ENTRY I  
TYPE: WRITTEN INTRODUCTION BY RESEARCHER  
AUTHOR: OS  
ASSOCIATIONS: Echo Squadron, Vex

I need more information. I have heard the stories of how the vex transformed planets into entire machines. Stories of how they came to our world through a portal opened by Crota. Venus, Mars, and Mercury. Three of the 8 planets in our solar system almost entirely transformed and taken over by the vex. We have to stop them before they do any more damage.

For this reason, I have decided to investigate a mission assigned by the vanguard a long time ago. What follows is as much information about the Echo Squadron’s final mission as I could gather. I hope it helps whoever comes after me understand more about the Vex.

DATA ENTRY TITLE: A mission from the Vanguard  
TYPE: AUDIO LOG WITH NARRATIVE THOUGHTS  
AUTHOR: ECHO-11  
ASSOCIATIONS: Echo-11, Echo Squadron, Vex, Zavala, Ikora, Brask, Echo-11

It was at this point I had followed my summons. The rest of my squad was finishing up a disruptor mission on some Fallen Devils that were getting a little too close to the city. I would have joined them but I had received a message from the Vanguard telling me to come back to the tower immediately. I wasn’t worried about my team, they could handle the mission no problem. As my ship docked in the hanger I walked out into the Hall of Guardians. 

Zavala- Welcome Echo. I am sure you have heard of the Vex.

Echo- Evil robots hell bent on destroying all light? Sure, why.

Ikora- The celestial body Nessus recently received a massive spike in Vex activity. We need a team to touch down and prime a transmat zone. Once done we can monitor the vex’s actions and hopefully, we can stop them before they turn the asteroid into another of their twisted machines. As long as the mission is successful we should at least have more data on how the vex transform planets, and how to stop their next attack. 

Echo- Sounds great. Any info on new weapons or armor we could find there? I know Zinkae loves it when we get new firepower.

It was at this point Andal Brask, the hunter vanguard walked out of the shadows. I had always liked him and his hunters. All three of them, Cayde, Shiro, and Andal himself were good friends of mine. 

Brask- Glad you asked. This is actually one of the most promising expeditions we have ever sent a team on. The golden age colony ship, Black Exodus, crashed there years ago. That combined with all the new war machines the vex are bringing makes this the most exciting mission I’ve seen since Kabr and his fireteam went down into the vault. I would love to go myself if I didn’t have to be here in this dump.

If I hadn’t had my helmet on everyone would seen my grin grow larger and larger at each of Andal’s words. I loved that good old Golden age tech. Vex stuff was nice but their darkness could never match our steel. 

Ikora- I wouldn’t be so quick to join this mission Andal. This is one of the more dangerous missions we have sent. After Kabr’s annihilation I would not advise going anywhere near the vex but we need information. It is imperative that we understand more about the vex. 

Echo- Understood. 

Zavala- I will send your team a debriefing. Good luck. You’ll need it. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The mission  
TYPE: AUDIO LOG  
RECORDER: ES COMLINK  
ASSOCIATIONS: Echo-11, Cicero, Tesla, Pitt-5, Zinkae

Echo- Listen up, got a new mission from Zavala. 

Tesla- Hope this one’s a challenge. Those fallen didn’t stand a chance against my fists!

Echo- From what I can gather, it will be. Ever heard of Nessus?

Cicero- That old rock? The location of Exodus Black’s crash site? Yeah, but we would never be sent to a mission on that place. It’s desolate. No one’s been there in centuries. 

Echo- That's only partially true. According to the vanguard’s latest briefing, the vex have been attempting transformation of the planet for around a decade or so. We have to stop them and gather information. 

Pitt- So just another recon mission, doesn’t sound too bad. 

Echo- According to the packet we have to establish a transmat zone on the surface. Looks like we will be dark until we can do that. It says we have control over how we go about the mission, but our ultimate goal is to clear an area for long enough to establish the zone and call in city reinforcements. The Vanguard says they can’t spare any more guardians on this assignment, but once we are done they can send in Drakes and Frames. 

Tesla- Alright! I love the vex, the feeling as their metal crunches and breaks is the best. Way better than crushing fallen bones. 

Zinkae- Anything on weaponry?

Echo- Well the city’s not giving us anything for this but they believe that between the exodus black and the vex tech we should be able to find a great amount of loot. Brask estimates it to be one of the most lucrative missions in years. 

Pitt- When do we leave? And how should we prepare?

Echo- Well as this is top priority we should probably leave tomorrow at dawn. Because we don’t have communication with the city we can’t transmat any weapons or armor down until we get that zone up, you should probably pack everything you might need. Remember, it’s vex so as much as you love it Tesla, please don’t bring Riskrunner.

Tesla- D***. Well, see y’all tomorrow. I’m feeling some crucible, anyone with me? Echo?

Echo- Sorry man, Cicero and I have to plan the mission. You guy go on without us. 

Pitt- Zinkae and I are with you buddy. Let’s go pubstomp some guys. 

JOURNAL ENTRY II  
TYPE: WRITTEN ANALYSIS  
AUTHOR: OS

So from what I can gather, Echo Squadron was sent on a fairly dangerous mission to Nessus to stop the vex. Based on other old city records, the fireteam was established as a rogue group around the time of Twilight gap. They were notable because most fireteams were either in groups of six or three. Echo Squad only had five, and they were one of the strongest teams at the time. The vanguard wouldn’t have sent such a valuable team unless it really needed the information from Nessus. 

That conversation on the comlinks was the last city record that exists about the team before it died on Nessus. That’s not enough. I need more information. I will head to the rock myself and see what there is to see. OS out. 

JOURNAL ENTRY III  
TYPE: DOCUMENTATION AFTER ARRIVAL  
AUTHOR: OS  
I’ve arrived at the location of Echo Squadron’s landing zone. It seems Echo-11’s ship is still here. Could the other guardians have not even made it to the surface? I’ll check the ship’s audio logs. Maybe there is something inside that could give me a clue as to what happened. OS out. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The Storm  
TYPE: AUDIO LOG  
RECORDER: ECHO-11’S SHIP  
ASSOCIATIONS: Nessus, Echo-11, Cicero, Pitt-5, Zinkae, Tesla

{Audible alarms ringing}

Echo- Electrical storm up ahead!

Tesla- F***, I can’t get out of it. My computer’s fried. Gonna be flying bli---

{Audio feed TA lost}

Cicero- Tesla! I’m going after him. 

Pitt- No, you can’t see in there! Just wait till the storm passes. 

{Audio feed CI lost}

{Audio feed ZK lost}

Pitt- Echo, what do we do? 

Echo- The storm won’t go away any time soon. The vex must know we’re coming. We  
have to stick together. Leave a message for the vanguard, then follow me down. It looks like the storm clears up once you near the surface. Hopefully the three of them can pull up in time. I’m going down. 

{Audio feed PT lost}

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The Vanguard Message  
TYPE: AUDIO LOG  
RECORDER: PITT-5  
ASSOCIATIONS: Echo Squadron, Vanguard, Pitt-5

Pitt- This is a message to the vanguard from fireteam Echo Squadron. On our mission we ran into an electrical storm and can’t reach three of our members. We are going down to the surface to attempt to regain connection with them. Echo Squadron out.  
{Audio feed PT lost}

{End of Transmission}

DATA ENTRY TITLE: A Rough Landing, Exotic Ship  
TYPE: LORE TAB  
ASSOCIATIONS: Echo Squadron, Pitt-5, Echo-11

“Pull up, pull up, pull up!” He thought to himself as his ship cleared the electrical storm above Nessus. His instruments rebooted, the ship’s engines hummed back to life just in time for him to skim slowly along the surface of the asteroid instead of crashing and burning on the ground below. 

As soon as he had control of the ship he looked around for other members of his fireteam. He saw another guardian ship flying down out of the sky. This one wasn’t as lucky as he was though. It’s boosters seemed to come back, but just slow enough for the ship to smash its wing against a rock formation. 

His ship’s warning bells started ringing again. His ship’s battery must have been damaged in the storm. He decided to use the last of his fuel to chase down the crashed ship, and hopefully reunite with Pitt-5. They would have to try and connect with the other 3 fireteam members later. 

JOURNAL ENTRY III  
TYPE: NEXT OBJECTIVE DESCRIPTION  
AUTHOR: OS

Still I need more. Luckily I found records of where Echo-11 started heading next, I believe after his landing he headed to find Pitt-5. I found sparrow trails leading away from his ship, A Rough Landing. I will follow his trail and hope I find another landing site.

DATA ENTRY TITLE: A Shot in the Dark, Exotic Ship  
TYPE: LORE TAB  
ASSOCIATIONS: Pitt-5, Echo-11, Vex, Echo Squadron

Pitt-5 heard the alarm bells ringing. He saw Echo-11 head down into the storm and after leaving a message for the vanguard he went down to follow him. Once he entered the storm all his instruments died. Echo had said that the storm let up nearer to the surface but Pitt was still worried. As he plummeted towards the surface he came out of the storm and saw nothing but the ground. As soon as his computer rebooted he fired his ship’s engines but it was too late. The side of his ship slammed into a rock formation jutting out of the asteroid’s surface, ripping his wing clean off. As Pitt fell he saw Echo’s ship coming for him but he knew he would never make it in time. 

Pitt angled his ship towards a nice clear area as best he could. He saw Echo’s ship touch down a while back and wondered if he would be alright. 

{Audible crash}

Pitt woke up from the crash and looked around. The cockpit cover had been ripped clean off and vex were quickly swarming the ship. He grabbed his weapons and ran outside, dashing to cover. The vex hadn’t seen him yet. 

Pitt knew that Echo wouldn’t get here for a while. He had at least 15 minutes before  
even the fastest sparrows could get from Echo’s landing spot to Pitt’s. If Echo came now he would be walking straight into an ambush. The vex were smart, and were already forming a defensive perimeter around the ship. They must have seen Echo drop in as well. Pitt knew he had to take these vex out before Echo got here. 

Priming a smoke bomb in one hand and a spike grenade in the other, Pitt lept out of cover, throwing one towards a group of goblins, and one at a minotaur. As he hit the ground he landed in a roll and activated his invisibility. The vex still hadn’t seen him, but they knew someone was there. Abandoning the wall they had set for Echo they began to swarm around the position where Pitt had just left. 

This was when Pitt made his move. Bursting down a minotaur's shield with his sidearm, he ran at the machines. Engaging in melee combat, Pitt ran up to the staggered robot and clawed out its eyes with two void knives before rolling off of it and vanishing. Their leader down, the vex began to retreat. As they did Pitt reached into the light and pulled out his bow. Firing a void arrow into the vex’s midst he gunned each of them down before they could fire so much as a shot. 

By the time Echo arrived Pitt was trying to pry open his ship’s sparrow door to go out and meet Echo by himself. 

Echo- Glad to see you’re alright Pitt.

Pitt- You too. You come down alright from the storm?

Echo- Yeah, I guess I came out of it faster. You took out all these vex by yourself? Nice work kid.

Pitt- Thanks. You see any of the others on your way down?  
Echo- I didn’t. But I did get a message from Cicero. He and Zinkae landed close to each other. They said they were going to go search for Tesla. I told them I would find you and then meet back up with them later. 

Pitt- Great. Glad to hear Cicero and Zinkae are alright. What do we do while we wait?

Echo- I ran into a group of vex on my way over to you. I would have taken them all out but I thought it would have been wiser to come assist you then we could take them together. I didn’t want to get stuck somewhere with no backup. They didn’t seem like a lot of trouble, but my ghost reported scans of unstable energy on them. Not quite sure what he means by that but I say we destroy them and look for anything we can use against them. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The Legend of Echo Squadron  
TYPE: WRITTEN TEXT INSIDE PITT-5’S SHIP  
AUTHOR: PITT-5  
ASSOCIATIONS: Pitt-5, Echo-11, Cicero, Zinkae, Tesla

The history of Echo Squadron runs deep. We were heroes of Twilight gap, and knights of Saint-14’s Crusade. We, a fireteam of 5 do more than many of 6 can ever dream of doing. We are a legend, having one of the highest successful mission complete records in city history, we are defend the city with our lives. 

Echo-11, our fearless leader. A true defender Titan. He built our team from the ground up. Always leading the charge, he fights as a warrior of the city. Resurrected near the end of the dark age, he was one of the first Titans of the city. Holding ground with his brothers at the Battle of Six Fronts, he is the oldest and most decorated member of our team. 

Cicero, nicknamed the rally cry of Echo Squadron, he is the man behind the curtains of Echo’s genius. A mastermind of battle strategy and the best orator the city has ever seen, Cicero became a close friend of Echo-11. The two were inseparable, often matching in crucible matches and their whole team leaving with dozens of Shaxx’s Strength of the Pack medals hanging off their chests. 

Zinkae, the classic quiet, but deadly hunter. Favoring her bow over other, conventional weapons, she was the next to join our team. Catching Echo’s eye in the crucible, she struck faster than anyone he had ever seen. Knowing the vanguard was going to stick Echo and Cicero in a fireteam soon Zinkae approached them with a challenge one day. The two of them against her and her bow in a match of the crucible. If she wins, they become Echo Squadron, otherwise they go their separate ways. Needless to say the two stood no chance against her volleys of arrows and blades. 

Tesla, one of the strongest Titans of the city, yet unwilling to take orders from anyone, was an outcast among the city. He lived in the wild, outside the city where no one could tell him what to do. One day Echo Squadron was pinned down by a fallen baron during a strike. Tesla heard Cicero’s call for assistance and came to the rescue. His fist of havoc decimated the fallen forces, gathered in one spot, and his lightning rounds from his sub-machine gun wreaked havoc among them. Echo was so surprised by the titan’s show of strength he offered him the honor of joining Echo Squadron. Persuaded by Cicero, Tesla gladly accepted. 

Then there’s me. Pitt-5. I was the last member of Echo Squadron. During the battle of twilight gap, where thousands of guardians and city civilians fell I was revived with nothing. I picked up a gun from a gutted fallen and slew as many as I could. Tagging along with Echo Squadron through the fight, they kept me alive and watched my back. Using my newfound light as a weapon I generated enough orbs of light to keep them stocked for the entirety of the battle. When Saint-14 called for followers in his counterattack against the fallen, Echo Squadron, now with a fifth member, was one of the first to join. 

JOURNAL ENTRY IV  
TYPE: DESCRIPTION OF NEXT OBJECTIVE  
AUTHOR: OS

Strange. The vex don’t normally get the jump on people so quickly. Whatever they were doing here on Nessus, they sure wanted to protect it badly. 

While I was looking into Pitt and Echo’s landing spots my ghost uncovered some atmospheric data that may lead to the crash site of another Echo Squadron member’s ship. Personally I hope we find Tesla. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: Cicero’s Landing  
TYPE: JOURNAL ENTRY  
AUTHOR: CICERO  
ASSOCIATIONS: Cicero, Echo-11, Tesla, Zinkae, Echo Squadron

As I dived after Tesla my ship’s computers crashed. The storm must have damaged them beyond repair. I had a plan though. I wasn’t worried about Zinkae, she always seemed to know what to do. As my ship neared Nessus’s surface I worried that I was going too fast for this to work. My ship’s computers started booting back up after I cleared the storm. Do I stick with my plan or do I try and fly the ship?

I decide to go with my plan. I let go of the controls and reached for my light. With it, I ripped a hole for myself in spacetime, and jumped through it. With the wind roaring in my ears I appeared outside my ship after my blink jump. I spread my arms out and let the wind slow me. Shortly before I hit the ground I activated my glide and slowed my momentum even more. It wasn’t quite enough.

I yelled in pain as the bone in my leg fractured. I was lucky though. Any later and I would have broken more than just my leg. Looking around I saw Zinkae perform the same move as I had. Blinking out of her ship, she let it crash on the ground below but unlike me, she pulled out her knife and made quick cuts in the sky that took her closer to my position. This slowed her enough to gracefully combat roll along the ground as her power ran out. 

As she ran over to my position my leg began to heal. I was always amazed at the recovery rate us guardians had. Wounds that would take a normal human weeks or months to heal could be fixed up in seconds by our ghosts.

Zinkae- Nice landing.

Cicero- Thanks. Nice job yourself. Any idea where Tesla and the others went? 

Zinkae- I watched Tesla crash into the ground about a mile or so south of here. Can you walk?

Zinkae had noticed my leg by now. It was mostly healed but it still hurt when I walked on it. We really didn’t have much of a choice either. I had faith that Tesla would be more than capable of defending himself. I was more worried that he would make enough noise to warrant a vex mind showing up to deal with the guardian itself. 

Cicero- I’ll be fine. You lead the way?

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The Search, Exotic Sparrow Remains  
TYPE: JOURNAL ENTRY BY CICERO  
AUTHOR: CICERO  
ASSOCIATIONS: Cicero, Tesla, Zinkae, Echo-11, Pitt-5

It was over a mile. Zinkae was great at directions, able to predict the degree to the point, but she kind of sucked at distance. After a little more than two miles we heard the gunshots and curses ring out. Tesla was close.

We picked up the pace and started sprinting towards him. Before long we could hear mechanical screams accompanied by the shots. Zinkae was faster than I and got there before I did. By the time I arrived most of the vex were cleared out. I pulled out my pulse and gunned down a few but Tesla had taken care of most of them. I saw a few with arrows sticking out of them, but most of them had scorched armor, still sparking from the impacts of Tesla’s shots. 

Cicero- Great to see you Tesla. You hurt?

Tesla- H*** no! These motherf***ing vex had no idea what hit em. 

Cicero- Good to hear. Let’s go. We need to meet up with Echo. I got in contact with him on the way over here. He says he was going to meet up with Pitt, then go destroy a group of Vex he thinks saw him. The comms are down now though. I think the vex are trying to jam us. The sooner we meet up with Echo the sooner we can come up with a plan. 

Zinkae- No. We need to get our sensors up and running. If we get to high ground I can have my ghost do scans of the area. Then we can find and take down whatever is blocking our signals. That mountain over there should be high enough. 

Zinkae pointed to a large formation behind her. It certainly was a tall structure. I hated climbing, but she was right. The sooner we got the jammer down the sooner we could get back into contact with the rest of the team. 

Cicero- You’re right. Let’s head over there. We can do that, then find Echo later. If the comms open back up we can tell him our new plan.

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The weapon  
TYPE: AUDIO LOG  
RECORDER: UNKNOWN (Found on discarded comlink)  
ASSOCIATIONS: Pitt-5, Echo-11, Echo Squadron

{Sparrow Engines roaring}

Echo- We should be coming up on them. While it’s possible they’re gone, I think they would have tried to hunt us down. Vex normally take their time hunting down guardians but when you landed they were all over you. 

Pitt- I’m not picking up anything on our scanners. Have you managed to re establish comms with Cicero and the others? 

Echo- No. The vex must be jamming us. Not sure why I was able to get in contact with him at all though. They should be fine. Tesla can more than handle himself, he basically lived in Fallen territory for years. 

Pitt- Echo! Vex up ahead.

{Sparrow Engines dying down}

Pitt- Do we engage?

Echo- I think they see us. We have to fight now. 

{Sparrow Engines firing up}  
Pitt- I’ll jump off and tether once they get close enough. 

Echo- Got it. 

{Vex screaming}

{Slap rifles firing}

{Shadowshot firing}

Pitt- Tether down. Let em have it.

{Audible explosions}

Pitt- Over there! Cyclops in the distance.

Echo- I’ve got it. You take these guys out. 

{Audible explosions}

{Audible gunshots}

Echo- Pitt, you good? Cyclops down. Need assistance?

Pit- No, they’re gone. You should come see this.

Echo- What the h***?

DATA ENTRY TITLE: Ghost Analysis of weapon  
TYPE: GHOST SCAN  
AUTHOR: PITT-5’S GHOST  
ASSOCIATIONS: Vex, Destroyers

Scan of a vex goblin core. It seems to be charged with dark energy. The only place this energy has been recorded before is among Hive and their weapons. Vex normally use laser based weapons but this is dark magic.

I can’t quite make out what this is and we can’t send it back to the city for further study until we establish that transmat zone. It is extremely dark energy though and should be regarded with incredible caution. I recommend having Cicero look at the scans to see what he can make of it.

Do not pick it up though. If I am correct it has the potential to drain your light, leaving you unable to be revived. Instead, you should probably destroy the device from a safe distance. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: Pitt-5’s Journal Entries  
TYPE: JOURNAL ENTRY  
AUTHOR: PITT-5

I stared at the orb. The potential to destroy light? If the vex had this kind of technology, they could rain chaos upon the city. We had to stop them. Luckily they didn’t seem to have weaponized it yet. The goblin that was carrying it hadn’t made any moves of attack. While it could be a stealth move by the vex, in the hopes that we wouldn’t find the orb. That didn’t seem too likely though. 

Still I wonder why the goblin didn’t teleport away. If this was a weapon it was probably valuable. Echo’s theory on the matter is that when the vex are carrying this darkness orb, as he calls it, they are unable to teleport. I guess that sounds like a good theory. 

Anyways we have to get information to Cicero and the others. If they run into a group of these vex and we are wrong about their state of weaponizing the darkness orbs then they could all fall victim to the machines. 

We are setting out again. We have no idea where the others are, but we are going to try and find the source of the signal jammer. We need to re establish comms with them. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: Video from Echo-11’s Sparrow  
TYPE: VIDEO FEED TRANSCRIPTION  
RECORDER: ECHO-11

Echo and Pitt were back on the trail. They both were lucky they had sparrows as they raced across Nessus’s surface. 

{Vex proximity alert}

Echo’s Sparrow slows to a stop. Pitt pulls in a sharp drift and stopps slightly in front of him.

Echo- Pitt, you hear that? We found em. Sensors indicate they are less than a mile off. We should be there in minutes. 

Pitt- We need to be careful. If they really do know we’re here, they’ll be ready. The vex have fought guardians before. They may not be able to simulate our light, but they can take a good guess at our next move. If they really do have the weapon tech ready to use the darkness orbs they will be ready for us. 

Echo- True, but I too can guess guardian moves. My guess Cicero and his team will attempt to find the signal jammer as well and get a hold of us. If they are successful in locating the jammer, they will try and take it out. If the vex really have weaponized the Darkness Orbs, then Cicero, Tesla, and Zinkae will be walking blind into a death trap. 

Pitt- You’re right! But there’s no way they can beat us there. Based on Tesla’s landing history there is no way his sparrow survived the crash. And Cicero isn’t that great of a pilot either so more likely than not he doesn’t have his sparrow. I have no idea about Zinkae, but they can’t transmat sparrows down because they don’t have a zone ready so there’s no chance they beat us there. 

At this point the proximity alarm is flashing even brighter. 

Pitt- Alright, I guess we’re doing this. 

Echo- So we are

The two sparrows start up again. Video feed ends

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The Climb  
TYPE: JOURNAL ENTRY  
AUTHOR: CICERO

We started to approach the mountain. I really wish I still had my sparrow, but the one I had brought had probably gotten so smashed up with it crashing and burning inside my ship that it wasn’t even close to being able to be used. I saw that Tesla was beginning to get bored. He always hated the long walks. 

Cicero- You okay Tesla?

Tesla- Yeah, I’m great. How you doing? You’ve been awfully quiet over there Mr. Battle Strat guy. Thinking Zink might have rubbed off on you.

Zinkae- Don’t call me that.

Cicero- Yeah, just thinking about our mission. The vex must have known we were coming, but how? 

Zinkae- The vex are mysterious machines. The only thing we know is that we know little to nothing about them.

Tesla- D***. That's the most I’ve heard you talk all at once in a long time. Up high!

He raised his hand but Zinkae shot him a glare through her helmet that made him quickly lower it. While Zinkae would trust Tesla with her life, she didn’t like him very much. Then again she liked almost no one outside of her team. She, Pitt and I were like Siblings, and she respected Echo because of his battle skill and combat prowess, but she never liked Tesla. 

I could see why. Always yelling stupid battle cries and rushing head first into combat, he was her antithesis. 

Cicero- Let’s keep moving guys. We need to reach that mountain. 

As we walked forward ever more we started to see vex on the summit. This was not what we needed. One of the main goals of this quest was to avoid detection, but we had come too far now to give up. We were going to have to get caught. Even if we managed to take out the vex one by one, they would know something was up when so many of their units went dark. They were a hive mind. As soon as one vex knew one thing, every other vex controlled by the same mind would know it as well. It is suspected that was one of the reasons why Kabr’s mission was such a disaster. 

Now that I thought about it though, these vex were strange. When Tesla and Zinkae took out that patrol, more didn’t immediately drop in on their position. Because they can teleport, vex normally come in swarms. Many a guardian has fallen to them because what should have been one minotaur turns into legions of harpies. But these vex didn’t seem to be teleporting around. In fact, as I observed the mountain with all the vex on it, I saw them climbing. Strange that a race of teleporting robots would climb. 

That leads me to my conclusion. These vex have shown strange behavior for vex. They lack the normal strategy of swarming via teleporting via first contact with hostiles, and they have shown strange behavior such as climbing. Something which has never been documented for the vex. This leads me to the conclusion that these vex are unable to teleport. 

I shared this revelation with the team and they agreed with my findings. Well Zinkae agreed. I couldn’t tell if Tesla was listening. After this we stopped while I came up with a plan. 

While this greatly increased our chance at a positive outlook on our mission, the vex were still deadly foes. My plan was more or less a simple one. Tesla and I would be the distraction. Zinkae only needed a minute to scan for signal blockers so our goal was to hold them off for long enough for her to get to the top and get a quick scan off. 

I hoped this would work. We really needed to find Echo so that we could continue with our primary goal. Even if we could get the signal jammers down, we still needed to establish a transmat zone on the asteroid, and that could take a while. If the vex had blockers up for local comms, they were sure to have something up to defend against exactly the sort of stunt we were trying to pull. 

We had reached the base of the summit. I gave Tesla the signal and he let out a battle cry before becoming surrounded by arc energy and jumping up into the air. He came down on top of a swarm of goblins and hobgoblins, decimating their ranks, then destroying the rest one by one with his guns. 

As Tesla was fighting, I stared down the scope of my rifle from far away. The mountain was littered with vex and more than one stood in Zinkae’s way. Every time one would get in her path, a quick shot from my rifle sent it’s metal body rolling down the mountain. This wouldn’t last too much longer though. Realising that they were gravely outmatched by Tesla, the vex began to retreat in order to regroup with the rest of their forces. Despite a strong start, Tesla would soon be overwhelmed and the vex would have full control of the mountain. 

Zinkae was almost at the top. She had only a few more vex in her way. One, two, three, click. I was out of bullets. I frantically reached for another clip, but it was too late. A lone harpy saw her and screamed for its allies. Crack! Another shot came from my rifle but by this point I would need a lot more than one gun to clear a path. 

The vex retreating from Tesla had a new re-grouping path now. They were now headed right for Zinkae. I reached for my comlink to warn her but then remembered the whole reason why we were on this mission. I switched to a smaller gun and shot around Tesla to get his attention. When he saw the shots he looked in my direction. I pointed at Zinkae. He seemed to get the message. 

Noticing the vex on her trail, Zinkae started climbing even more rapidly. She was almost at the top now, but this time with a swarm of vex right below her. Jumping up the last of the rocks, she had arrived, and pulled out her ghost. Within seconds she looked at my position and gave me a thumbs up. Mission complete. Now we had to get out. I got Tesla’s attention again and repeated Zinkae’s signal. The three of us ran back the way we had came. Luckily, my theory seemed to be correct. The vex were probably unable to teleport, given that they gave little to no chase. Either that or they had calculated it would take too much to attempt to dispatch us and chose to let us get away. 

Our mission a success, we grouped back up and discussed what to do next. With the data Zinkae got we were able to locate the source of the signal jammer and we hoped we would be able to disable it. It was a ways off but all that did was give me more time to come up with a plan to take it out. 

JOURNAL ENTRY V  
TYPE: NEXT OBJECTIVE  
AUTHOR: OS

Been awhile since I’ve made one of these. I’ve been on this d***ed rock for a few days and I am nowhere even to close to finding out what I need to know. I did find some useful things though. 

Firstly, those darkness orbs, as Echo and Pitt called them. I have never heard any mention of something like them before. If what Pitt’s ghost scan says is true, he is right in saying it could be a devastating weapon. I’ll have to keep a lookout for something like it.

Next, Cicero’s observations. From the various scraps of data from sparrows, discarded journal entries, and recorded conversations, I can confirm that this is not normal vex behavior. I have studied the vex for years and Cicero was right in saying that they were acting strange. There has never been a documented case of the vex climbing. While the robots will sometimes either jump or teleport to get to higher ground, in all my years of research this was the first case I have ever seen of this happening. 

He was right in saying they were probably unable to teleport. If the vex wanted Pitt and Tesla dead, they would have sent more than a few units to take them out. Likely Tesla landed in a group of them and they thought Pitt died in the crash. From the crater in the ground from Tesla’s landing site I can guess that he used his Fist of Havoc to survive the fall. 

And lastly, I have discovered the source of the next location Echo Squadron traveled to. I found the data Zinkae gathered with her scan. It’s pointing to a location East of where I am now. So I will travel to the site of the vex signal jammer, and see what I can find. OS out. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: Pitt-5’s journal entries  
TYPE: JOURNAL ENTRY  
AUTHOR: PITT-5

We got closer and closer to the site of where Echo’s ghost had picked up the signal from. As we approached, it became clear that the place was underground. Our elevation just didn’t match up with its. 

Echo seemed worried. We had no idea what was happening with Cicero and the rest of them. Even since we blew that darkness orb he had gone from pretty relaxed about the whole operation, to gravely concerned. I knew that if he was worried, I probably should be too. 

We rode ever closer before seeing a massive cave entrance before us. I got off my sparrow and looked in. Darkness was all I saw. Not like, evil darkness. I just mean that it was dark in there. Couldn’t see a thing. My ghost turned on its light but it didn’t help much. 

Echo- Well it should be right in here. We are going to have to go down. 

Pitt- Well I don’t mind the dark. I know the vex hate it though. Not sure why but you never really find the vex in dimly lit locations too often. Maybe it screws up their vision. There’s probably some sort of light near the bottom. 

Echo- You’re right. Well we should leave our sparrows here. They’re loud and if they get destroyed we have no way of summoning them back. Hopefully the vex don’t find them. 

With that we headed down into the darkness. (Both like the absence of light darkness and the evil kind. Ha, guardian jokes.) Our ghosts popped out and lit the path forward. We had yet to encounter any big bad guys, and I kind of hoped we didn’t. I tried to talk to Echo about the other members of our team but he quickly changed the subject, saying they would be fine and that we couldn’t think about them now. 

I worry for their safety. 

DATA ENTRY TITLE: The Pit  
TYPE: JOURNAL ENTRY  
AUTHOR: CICERO

Picking up from where we left off, we’ve been walking towards the source of the signal jammer for quite a while now. Assuming that the scans were correct we shouldn’t be far off now. Hopefully we can meet up with Echo and Pitt after we destroy the signal jammer. 

So far I have failed to come up with a great plan. Because of our lack of information there isnt really much planning I can do. We have decided to just go in guns blazing, kill as many as we can and destroy the jammer. We have run missions like this before against the fallen and this plan has worked well. Zinkae is a great shot, capable of destroying legions with just her bow, and Tesla is even better. 

Going back to now we are still a few minutes off of our destination. I see a vex sync plate off in the distance. 

Zinkae- You see it?

Cicero- Yeah, not really sure what we should do. If the vex can’t teleport we can take it easily, they won’t even make it here in time to stop us, on the other hand we dont’ know what it does. 

Before I could stop him Tesla runs up to the plate and stands on it. A loud explosion rings out, it’s a trap! A hole opens up beneath the sync plate and Tesla falls. 

Cicero- D*** it. We have no idea what’s down there. 

Zinkae jumped into the pit without a second thought. At this point I had no choice but to follow her.

**Author's Note:**

> Again, this version of the story will never be finished. I really enjoyed writing the story but there are many things that I would like to change and it is easier to just reboot the entire thing, rather than making changes to this one. For example, I want Pitt and Zinkae to swap a lot of aspects of their characters, as well as making Zinkae more obvious. Tesla needs to be something else other than the boring punchy titan, despite the fact that he dies and becomes a non factor soon. There are a lot of things that I would like to change, however I would like to know what did and didn't work with this. Did you like how the story was convayed through the lore cards or should I have gone with a traditional medium? Overall, I would really appreciate feedback anyone could give me on how to make this story better. If people think it is not too terrible I will (probably) write a full version of the story. 
> 
> Also, a couple plot twists that I want to see if people like but didn't get far enought to come into play: All of the main characters except Pitt (or Zinkae, havent decided) die, and the researcher writing most of the narration is Osiris and this is what leads him to find the infinite forest.


End file.
